You already know that the IRS is drooling over the impending income tax deadline. You’re not alone.

This is the time of year when homebuyers are digging through that shoebox with all their receipts, hoping for a refund, dreading the possibility of draining their savings and . . . postponing their search for a new place to live.

Although the weather may be fine and open houses scheduled in seasonally elevated numbers, taxes and their impact in “normal” times tend to sap the resources, energy and motivation of buyers. (Of course, this is hardly a normal year.) The nascent vigor of the housing market follows.